


(I Met My Future) When I Met You

by whispered_story



Series: I Met My Future [1]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, First Time, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Journalist Jared, M/M, Photographer Jensen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 18:15:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4756262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whispered_story/pseuds/whispered_story
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared's been Jensen's best friend since they were five and the guy he's been in love with since they were nineteen. Eight years later, Jensen's still waiting for Jared to catch on. [repost, first posted 24/3/2010]</p>
            </blockquote>





	(I Met My Future) When I Met You

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [【授权翻译】(I Met My Future) When I Met You/时空恋旅人](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7729969) by [Milfoil_c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milfoil_c/pseuds/Milfoil_c)



Jensen met Jared when he was five (well, almost) and the Padaleckis moved into the empty house next to theirs. 

He was riding his bike up and down their driveway (he wasn't allowed to go ride it anywhere else on his own and he knew his mother glanced out of the kitchen window every few minutes to check up on him), but his eyes kept flitting over the house next door.

People were coming in and out of it, carrying boxes and furniture, slowly emptying the big moving van parked outside. Jensen was excited about having new neighbors, mainly because it meant Dustin Browning had moved away to another city, as his mom had explained, and he wouldn't bully Jensen anymore. No more having his toys being taken away by the older boy, no more teasing remarks or being pushed around. And then there was the boy playing in the other driveway. He was kicking a ball around, letting it roll away for a moment before running after it and kicking it back into the other direction. 

Jensen still remembers the way Jared looked perfectly, the happy, big smile on his face and floppy dark hair falling into his eyes. Sometimes, he thinks it's ridiculous how much Jared still looks like the five year old he once was.

That day, Jensen watched avidly as Jared played with a ball, completely lost in his own world until Jared didn't get to the ball fast enough and it rolled away, right towards Jensen. Jared looked at him for the first time then, and Jensen got off his bike, waving shyly. It was enough to have Jared abandon his toy completely and run up to Jensen instead.

"Hi," he grinned, one of his front teeth missing. "Do you live here?"

Jensen just nodded. 

"Is that your bike?" Jared asked excitedly, eyes big as he looked at it. "Can I ride it?"

Jensen glanced at it and then back at Jared. "You have to stay in the driveway," he said solemnly. "My momma will get mad if you don't."

Jared nodded happily, taking the bike from Jensen and getting on carefully. "You gotta hold onto it at first, okay? Don't let go."

Jensen didn't. He gripped the frame as best as he could with too small hands and held on as Jared started moving slowly. Jared laughed and looked back at Jensen, a wide smile on his face.

Jensen didn't even know his name then, didn't know anything about the boy, but somehow, his life started revolving around Jared at that very moment.

Twenty-two years later, and that's the one thing that never changed.

~

Jensen hears the clicking sound of his front door being unlocked and frowns when he glances at his watch. He knows it's Jared, because he's the only other person who has a key to Jensen's apartment, but it's only nine and Jared had a date at 7:30. He's been expecting Jared to drop by afterwards, as he always does, but he not for a few more hours.

It's become somewhat of a tradition. Jared goes on a date, and they go horribly without fail, and then he comes to Jensen's, curling up on the couch with him and letting Jensen comfort him. Jensen usually plies his with beer and puts in some crappy movie they already know by heart. 

He's not quite sure why Jared can't find a decent date to save his life – not since his last relationship went down the gutter. Sandy was kind of perfect; sweet, smart, and feisty, giving as good as she got and she even got along with Jensen. Jensen always tries for Jared's sake, but he rarely ever gets along with Jared's girl- or boyfriends. Sandy though, despite the tiny part of Jensen that wanted to hate her, had been impossible to dislike. But ever since her, Jared hasn't even made it to a second date with anyone. 

There was one girl who had envisioned Jared in a tux, slipping a ring on her finger, and picked their future children's names before they even went on the date. Another seemed awesome, according to Jared, until he found out that she was only getting back at her boyfriend for flirting with her sister on some family outing. 

The guys Jared goes out with aren't any better. Jared claims he's still traumatized by the one who told him homosexuality was a sin and they'd both go to hell for it and how he prayed for forgiveness every day, but he just couldn't help wanting men. 

"Jensen?" Jared calls out.

"Couch," he replies and carefully marks the page of his book before setting it aside.

"Hey." Jared jumps over the back of the couch, his knee dangerously close to Jensen's face for a split second, and plops down next to him. 

"Had a good night?" Jensen asks and Jared grunts in reply, giving Jensen an exasperated look.

"Well, Cole certainly didn't believe in withholding any information."

Jensen chuckles softly and knocks his knee against Jared's. "Hmm. What'd he tell you to scare you off?"

"That he has a freaking _dungeon_ in his basement. He also told me what he wanted to do to me in said dungeon. I'm scarred for life." Jared shudders and reaches for the half full bottle of beer sitting on the coffee table.

Jensen throws his head back and laughs. "Oh, Jared, only you."

"Shut up. How was I supposed to know I'd end up going out with a guy who's into stuff like that? When I gave him my number he was wearing a freaking suit and his hair was gelled back. I was actually worried he'd turn out to be the most boring date ever," Jared grouses. He shifts around on the couch, pulling his legs up and rests his head on Jensen's shoulder. 

Jensen slides his arm around Jared's shoulder comfortingly.

"Seriously," Jared sighs. "I just want to meet _one_ decent person."

"You will, Jay," Jensen says. He rests his chin on Jared's head, the hair tickling against his skin. _I'm a decent person_ , he thinks and breathes in the familiar scent of Jared's shampoo.

~

Jared kissed Jensen once at a party. Admittedly, it was during a game of spin the bottle when they were teenagers, which is kind of lame and probably doesn't even count as a real kiss.

Jensen doesn't know if Jared remembers, because you kind of kiss everyone during spin the bottle and it never means anything. But Jensen remembers. 

He remembers the way his stomach dropped when the bottle stopped, pointing at him. Jared was grinning, laughing softly and he leaned closer, his breath hot on Jensen's skin. It tickled a little. 

He wanted to say something, maybe protest and get out of kissing Jared, but he didn't. He just titled his head when Jared cupped his face and leaned into it. Jared's lips were soft, tasting like the sweet coke he was drinking. The girls around them hooted and the boys laughed and Jensen opened his mouth, letting Jared's tongue slip past his lips and slide over his hesitantly. 

Jensen's heart was beating out of his chest and his hands were sweaty, and he couldn't remember ever feeling this way. Not even about any girl he'd ever kissed or the one boy he'd fooled around with once he realized that he really wasn't interested in girls.

When they pulled away, Jared just smiled and knocked their shoulders together before telling Jensen it was his turn.

That night, Jensen lay in his bed and when he closed his eyes he swore he could still feel Jared's hand on him and could still taste him on his lips. There were angry tears burning behind his eyes and his chest felt too tight. He pushed the feeling to the back of his mind and didn't let himself think about it again for years.

~

"Jeff is getting married," Jared says as he walks into Jensen's apartment, Harley and Sadie close on his heels, sounding shocked. He sits down at the kitchen chair, picking up Jensen's own invitation that's sitting on top of a pile of mail with a huff. "Jeff. My older loser brother who always sucked at dating."

Jensen frowns and pets Sadie who noses at his thigh. "He's been with Cara for two years now," he replies and hands Jared a beer, sitting down across from him. He rotates his shoulders, trying to work out the stiffness that's there from hours of trying to take the perfect photo, which, unfortunately, required for him to twist his body in a position he never thought he was capable of.

"Exactly. Two years is the longest relationship he's ever had and now they're getting married? Who does that?"

"People who love each other?" Jensen suggests, studying Jared carefully. His jaw is set and there's a slightly pinched look on his face that means Jared is seriously upset about something. "You already knew he was getting married, Jared. He called you after he proposed, man. Why are you freaking out about this now?"

Jared snorts. "I'm not. I don't care -- but everyone thought I'd get married first. _I_ thought I would."

"And now you're the loser who doesn't even have a girlfriend. Or boyfriend," Jensen concludes. 

Jared shoots him a glare. "I'm not a loser. Just -- single right now. And you know what the wedding will be like for me? The whole family will be there. You know, the crazy, annoying part of the family that I haven't seen in years. They'll all ask questions and want to know when I'm settling down and I'll have to say, _I can't find anyone to settle down with_."

Jensen gives Jared an amused smile. "Take a date. That way they think you're with someone at least." He takes a pull from his beer, quirking his eyebrows. "Or I could just mock you every time the topic comes up; tell them it's not your fault that nobody wants your loser ass."

Jared's lips twitch into a smile and he kicks Jensen's shin under the table. "Shut up. I'm awesome."

"Whatever, Jay, keep telling yourself that. When's the last time you went onto a date that wasn't a complete bust?" Jensen teases, trying to keep Jared's mood light. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Harley sniffing around the counter, stretching himself up high enough that his muzzle reaches the top where a pack of cookies lies. "Hey, down, Harley. Come here."

Jared frowns, patting his thigh and Harley comes running to him immediately, looking up at him with adoring eyes. "So if I'm such a failure at dating, who am I gonna take to the wedding?"

He finishes off his beer and Jensen quickly follows suit before getting up and getting two more bottles from the fridge. "The new girl from your work? What's her name? Amber? She's always at your desk when I drop by."

"Because she has a crush on you and keeps pestering me about you," Jared replies and rolls his eyes.

"Huh," Jensen says and sits back down. He's only ever seen Amber a few times when he met with Jared for lunch. She's cute, dark hair and blue eyes, pretty smile, and Jensen had automatically assumed she was into Jared. Despite what Jared's dating record suggests, _everybody_ is kind of into Jared and Jared's just too blind to notice it most of the time. "I never said more than hi to her."

"I don't think she's interested in you for your incredible conversation skills. And believe me, she _is_ interested. She keeps asking about when you'll come by the next time, and if you're seeing anyone, and what you like."

"Cock," Jensen replies and smirks.

Jared barks out a loud laugh. "I'll tell her that the next time she asks. But back to my problem please. Date?"

"The bartender at Marty's? He likes you."

"Yeah, taking some bartender I don't know to meet my parents. Classy, Jensen."

Jensen makes a face, but has to admit Jared has a point. Jared's parents probably wouldn't mind who Jared dated, but strangely enough, a lot of Jared's other family members are surprisingly uptight. Both sets of grandparents had a hard time getting used to the fact that Jared's bisexual and while they were never outright disapproving, they weren't exactly hiding the fact that they hoped Jared would settle down with a nice girl eventually. They were ecstatic when he brought home Sandy, and less so when they broke up again a couple of years later. And Jared is way too conscious about what people think about him.

"Fine. Ask Sophia then."

"Chad'll love that."

"As a friend. It wouldn't be awkward, you'd have fun, and everyone would think you brought a date."

Jared looks thoughtfully, cocking his head to the side. "Hmm. You know, that actually doesn't sound too bad."

"Good. So, Sophia? Or maybe I could ask Danneel, she wouldn't mind. And I'll be there as well anyway, so we can all hang out together."

"Nah. I wouldn't want to do that to the girls. My grandma will probably corner them and talk about babies and marriage." Jared grins. "You on the other hand, as you just said yourself, are going anyway."

It takes a second for what Jared's suggesting to register, and when it does Jensen gapes at Jared. "Me? Jared, no. I doubt us going together as dates would be the best idea."

"It would be _great_. We'd have fun together, and nobody would dare ask about us cause they could get an answer they wouldn't like. C'mon. Please?"

It's a horrible idea, being the wedding date for his best friend who he has unrequited feelings for. It's probably somewhere in the top five of worst ideas Jared ever had, coming right after that one time when they were seven and Jared claimed they wouldn't know if they weren't secretly superheroes until they jumped out of a window to see if they could fly. They'd been smart enough to stack any pillows and blankets they could find underneath the window and it hadn't been that high to begin with, but it still hurt like hell and they been grounded for weeks.

"Please, Jensen?" Jared repeats and lowers his head a little, looking at him from under his lashes.

Jensen sighs. "Fine. But I'm not putting out on the first date, asshole."

"Awesome," Jared grins. And that's how Jensen ends up having with a _completely platonic_ date with Jared.

~

Jensen's heard his friendship to Jared being called a lot of things – from _co-dependence_ to _picture-perfect friendship_. He knows they're closer than a lot of friends are, knows that it's special and a lot of people would like to have a friendship like that, one where you can always depend on the other person, who's on your side no matter what, and who will always put you first. Most days though, Jensen forgets. Jared's the only best friend he ever had, is all Jensen's ever known and sometimes, he forgets that not everyone has a Jared in their lives and that he's really freaking lucky. To him, Jared's just a part of his life and he can't even fathom things being different, despite Jared's multiple flaws and annoying habits.

Sometimes though, sometimes Jensen is reminded of just how big a presence Jared is in his life and how much he relies on that. The biggest reminder came during their sophomore year in college when for one gruesome week, Jared and Jensen didn't talk to each other.

Jensen had stayed in one night to catch up on his homework while Jared went out to some party and he came back stupidly drunk in the middle of the night with an equally drunk girl. Jensen pretended to be asleep, listening to the soft moans and the squeaks of the bed across the room while his stomach coiled.

He fell asleep eventually and when he woke up it was morning and Jared was asleep in his bed, alone. Jensen felt an irrational annoyance towards Jared as he watched him snore softly in his sleep. He didn't try to keep it down as he got up, tugging clothes out of the closet angrily and stomping around the room. 

"Jen," Jared groaned from his room, pulling a pillow half over his head. "Keep 't down."

"It's my fucking room, too," Jensen muttered, slamming a book down on his desk just because.

Jared pushed the pillow off again, blinking tiredly at Jensen with a look of confusion on his face. "Wha'?" He sat up, pushing tangled hair out of his face. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Jensen echoed. "Maybe I was trying to sleep _last night_ and you wouldn't let me, going at it like a fucking porn star."

Jared frowned, shuffling around in his bed. "I thought you were asleep."

"Well, I wasn't. I have a ton of classes this semester and god knows how much homework. I'd appreciate it if you could at least let me get some fucking sleep on the weekend." Jensen didn't wait for Jared to answer and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. It opened again moments later, Jared leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed. There was a dark hickey on his collarbone, standing out in the bright light, and Jensen wanted to punch something.

"You act as if this happens all the time," Jared said, forced and clipped, and Jensen knew he was trying to keep calm. "What the fuck is your problem, dude?"

"Just forget it, okay? And fuck girls somewhere else."

"Excuse me?" Jared raised his voice. "This is the first time this whole semester that I hooked up with anybody. How many guys have you been with in the last few months?"

"None while you were in the room at the same time," Jensen replies harshly, glaring at Jared.

"Yeah, well, you and Peter left used condoms lying all over our freaking dorm more than once while you were 'dating'." Jared made quotation makes in the air around the last word. "Didn't hear me complaining about that, did you?"

"Screw you, Jared. If you don't like something then tell me, but don't throw it back in my face months later! And start acting like a fucking grown up, would you? This isn't just your room where you can do as you please," Jensen hissed, pushing past Jared. "Seriously, you could at least try being _a little_ considerate once in a while."

Jared grabbed his wrist, holding him back. "Maybe you should look for someone else to room with next semester then if I'm so hard to live with." He let go of Jensen and walked into the empty bathroom, closing the door in Jensen's face. The snick of the key being turned sounded loud in the silent room and Jensen rested his head against the door. When heard the shower being turned on, he pushed himself upright and left the room.

They didn't talk for a whole week. Jared was barely in their dorm for anything but sleeping and Jensen wondered if he was spending his free time with friends or with the girl from the weekend. The nagging thought of Jared with someone else fuelled Jensen's anger even more, and he wanted to find that girl and tell her that Jared was his and Jesus fucking Christ, he was behaving like a jealous boyfriend. 

It was the moment that Jensen realized that, maybe, he was in love with Jared. 

Jensen snapped at everybody who tried talking to him the next few days, before he just avoided all of his friends altogether. He could barely sleep at night, listening to Jared's steady breathing and wanting to cry. 

"Are you okay, baby?" his mother asked when she called him. "You sound so dejected. Did something happen?"

"It's nothing," Jensen muttered, rubbing his eyes and telling himself he wouldn't cry on the phone with his mom like some pathetic loser. "Jared and I had a fight."

"Oh, baby. You two'll work it out. You always did."

"Yeah, when we fought over whose turn it was to pick a movie or whether or not wrist sweatbands were cool," Jensen says, swallowing. "This was kinda different."

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No," Jensen answered honestly. He held it together until his mom hung up before throwing himself onto his bed and letting the tears flow. He fell asleep like that, exhausted and miserable.

When he woke up, Jared was curled around him, running gentle fingers through Jensen's hair.

"What?" he mumbled stupidly.

"Your mom called," Jared said with a smile. "Told me we were both being idiots and that whatever happened, it wasn't worth being miserable over."

"Jay," Jensen whispered, sitting up and pulling away. "I'm sorry."

"Me, too."

"You didn't do anything. I was in a bad mood and took it all out on you," Jensen lied. "It won't happen again, I promise." 

And it didn't. It hurt like a bitch sometimes, but Jensen learned to smile through Jared's relationships, learned to pretend that he was just Jared's best friend, and threw himself into relationships with other guys himself. It's how they've been working ever since.

And if sometimes he looks at Jared and his heart beats a little faster and he wants nothing more than to kiss Jared until Jared realizes what's right in front of him, it's nothing Jensen can't ignore. Because, after that one week during college, Jensen's learned that there's nothing worse than having Jared not being a part of his life.

~

Jensen hears the footsteps behind him and turns around, giving Jared a smile. He's wearing just his dress pants and white button down, sweat sliding down his collarbone in the sweltering Texas heat. Jeff's wedding reception is in full swing, people milling everywhere, chatting and laughing.

"God, I totally forgot about that," Jared says with a chuckle, and gestures at the tree Jensen's been looking at. It's big and sturdy, the biggest tree in the whole backyard, and they climbed it more times than they could count when they were kids. Jensen remembers sitting on the branches in the summer, legs swinging, and hidden from view. Jared always called it their tree with a grin, and before they moved away to college they'd carved two Js into the thick, smooth bark.

Jensen hums under his breath, remembering. "We practiced on logs we found in the woods first."

"Well, we had to get it right. No do over, after all." Jared knocks their shoulders together and takes sip from the drink he's holding. It's a champagne glass, but judging by the color he's only drinking water.

"How're you feeling?" Jensen asks, worry evident in his voice. Jared's been feeling unwell since they arrived in Texas and he looks a little pale despite his tan. 

"I'll survive. A little queasy." He gives Jensen a smile, as if to prove he's being honest, and then looks back at the tree. He reaches out, slowly tracing his fingertip over one of the two letters. They'd used Jeff's pocketknife without Jeff's knowledge, carving one letter each. The lower part of the second J is curling into the first one a little, connecting them. 

"Think the photo we took of it before we left's still around somewhere?" Jared asks and lets his hand drop, still smiling.

"Probably," Jensen replies and mentally goes through all the places it could be. He has a few boxes of things from their dorm, photos and papers and trinkets all hidden away in his closet at home.

Jared laughs softly and draws his hand back. "Yeah," he agrees. "So, hey, I was looking for you."

"Yeah?" 

Jared nods to the patio where all the guests are mingling and dancing. "Wanted to ask if you'd want to dance?"

"With you?" Jensen asks, surprised, but desperately wants Jared to say yes. They've danced together before, in clubs and at parties, but never like this. Never slow and formal.

Jared nods. "All the couples are dancing. And well, you're my date, right?" He holds out his hand, palm up, and grins dorkily. Jensen laughs and places his hand into Jared's. He lets Jared lead him to the patio, put his half empty glass away, and pull him onto the makeshift dance floor.

His heartbeat speeds up as Jared slips his arm around his waist, his hold warm and comfortable.

"Why do I have to be the girl?" Jensen complains. 

Jared's breath tickles against his ear as he answers, "Because you're so damn pretty, Ackles."

Jensen swats his shoulder lightly, but doesn't protest when Jared takes the lead.

~

Emma Nash and Chris Gunsberg both lived in their street as well and they all went to elementary school together, and Jared and Jensen sometimes played with them.

Since they were three guys to one girl, they usually overrode Emma's suggestions, playing Cowboy and Indiana, or riding their bikes, or building fortes instead. Sometimes though, Emma begged and pleaded until they played something she liked. Never dolls, because the one time they did Chris accidentally broke one of the Barbie's arms off and Emma refused to let them near her dolls ever again -- not that they really minded. Once Emma talked them into pretending to get married. 

Emma had grabbed Chris's hand and told him he'd be her husband and Jared snickered all the way through Jensen marrying them, holding the rings made out of cord they got from Jared's mom. 

"You can kiss the bride now," Jensen said, pronouncing the phrase he'd heard on TV so many times carefully.

Jared laughed loudly when Chris made a face and shook his head and Emma blushed. There was a short, awkward silence and then Jared grabbed Jensen's hand. 

"Our turn now!" he exclaimed and grinned widely. 

"Boys can't marry boys, stupid," Chris said and crossed his arms over his chest.

Jensen frowned and Jared's face fell, but he didn't let go of Jensen's hand. "You're stupid. An' I wanna marry Jensen."

"You can't," Emma agreed. "You have to marry a girl, Jared."

"Says who?" Jared looked upset, the way he did when Jeff had hidden his GI Joe figure or the one time Jennifer Sears had spilled her apple juice on Jared's drawing.

Chris shrugged. "You can't," he repeated. 

"Shut up," Jared yelled.

"Jay," Jensen whispered and pressed himself closer to Jared. "Is okay. We can get married."

"My daddy says it's gross and wrong." Chris looked at them smugly, like there was nothing left for them to say now, and Jared started sniffling. 

It was the first time Jensen remembers getting into a physical fight. Jensen's mom came running out of the house, yelling at them to stop and pulling him and Chris apart. There were a few scratches on both of them and a bruise on Chris's shin where Jensen had kicked him hard.

His mom made him apologize for it, but Jensen hadn't felt any remorse and his mom had looked at them both with tears in her eyes before smoothing back Jared's hair and giving them both a kiss on the forehead, telling them that it was wrong to get into fights and that sometimes, people were wrong but it was best to just ignore them. Then she helped them tie the cord around their ring fingers.

They kept the rings on for days, refusing to let anyone pull them off.

~

Jensen's almost asleep, after trying to get comfortable in his too small bed with the sticky, Texan summer heat hanging in the air for hours, when his cell phone vibrates on the nightstand. He can't wait for them to fly back to L.A. the next day, where he has a big bed and his bedroom has just the right, cool temperature.

He jerks out of slumber and groans, his hand reaching towards the noise.

"Wha'?" he asks into the phone.

"Jen? Did I wake you?" Jared's voice is hushed, and Jensen runs his knuckles over his eyes, blinking as he rolls onto his bed. _Jared_. Figures. Jared's really the only one who would dare to call him up in the middle of the night and disrupt his sleep. 

"'s okay. I wasn't really asleep yet. Too freaking hot."

"Wuss," Jared teases in a soft voice.

"Hmmm, whatever. Can't sleep?" 

"I spent the last fifteen minutes puking my guts out."

Jensen groans, sitting up and swinging his legs out of the bed, and switches on his bedside lamp. "Shit, Jay. You said you were feeling okay earlier. How bad is it?"

"I'll live. Can't find any meds though and I don't wanna wake my parents to ask. The house's full of guests, man. And you guys always keep stuff around."

Jensen rolls his eyes to himself, because Jared obviously has no qualms waking him up. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

He finds his glasses, too lazy to bother with contacts, and slips on jeans and a t-shirt, before sneaking into the bathroom down the hall to search through the medicine cabinet. 

Outside of the Padaleckis' house he hesitates for a moment, looking up to Jared's bedroom. He did this countless times when they were teenagers, slipping out at night and climbing up the tree in front of Jared's room, climbing through the window Jared always left open. They'd talk until they fell asleep and be woken up the next day by Jared's mom, who'd shake her head at them exasperatedly and tell them to hurry or there'd be no breakfast before school.

This time, Jensen goes in through the backdoor. He pushes his sneakers off as soon as he's inside and creeps up the stairs, hoping he's not going to wake anyone up. 

Jared's in the small bathroom connected to his bedroom, sprawled out in front of the toilet. He's pale and sweaty and blinking tiredly at Jensen. Before Jensen can say anything to him, Jared lurches forward in a sudden movement and heaves.

"Fuck," Jensen mutters and puts the bottle of pills onto the counter. He reaches for a washcloth and turns on the cold water.

"It looks worse than it is," Jared tells him, spitting into the toilet bowl. "Just an upset stomach."

"Right," Jensen replies disbelievingly. He wrings out the washcloth and kneels down, taking Jared's chin in his hand and holding him in place as he runs the cool cloth over his face. "Maybe I should drive you to the hospital?"

"Jen," Jared says and curls his hand around Jensen's wrist, stilling his hand. "'m fine. I just need some meds and sleep."

"Fine. But I'm staying the night."

Jared gives him a small smile. "I know."

Jensen unfurls his body and helps Jared up. He shakes out a couple of pills, watches closely as Jared swallows them before leading him back into the bedroom. They curl up under the covers together, their bodies inches apart but not touching. Jared falls asleep within minutes, his breath evening out, and Jensen listens to it, letting it sooth him into sleep as well. He wakes up a couple of times during the night and reaches out to run his hand over Jared's forehead and cheek, checking that he doesn't have a temperature before going back to sleep.

Jensen knows he turns into a mother hen when Jared's sick, making sure he's eating and drinking and taking his meds as prescribed. They both become a little overbearing whenever the other one isn't feeling well. Jensen figures it's better to have someone care for you too much than having nobody to take care of you at all and Jared's cute when he worries about Jensen.

When they were eleven, Jensen fell while they were rollerblading and broke his arm. Jared cried just as much as Jensen did and the next time Jensen looked for his rollerblades they weren't anywhere in the house. Jared didn't give them back until Jensen promised to never get hurt on them again. Sometimes, Jensen wishes life was still that easy.

~

Three weeks after they're back in L.A., Jared's mom sends them photos from the wedding.

"I thought I'd wait until you get here to look through them. Just read my mom's letter," Jared says when he opens the door for Jensen, trying to hold Harley and Sadie back. Jensen pushes past him and drops to his knees, letting the dogs lick his face as he pets them. "I swear she used the word adorable at least fifty times."

"It was her son's wedding, what did you expect?" Jensen asks, glancing up at Jared who looks even more impossibly tall from Jensen's position on the floor. He scratches both Harley and Sadie behind the ears once more, and then gets back up.

"She's probably still gonna gush about the wedding on Christmas, man, showing everyone the pictures for the hundredth time." Jared groans. "I'm so celebrating with you guys this year."

"Let your mom have this, Jay. At the rate you're going, she's never going to see her second son get married," Jensen teases and cackles when he manages to sidestep Jared's punch. He flees into the living room, calling over his shoulder, "Get me some beer, bitch."

Jared follows him a minute later, sets two bottles of beer onto the table and the couch dips under his weight when he flops down next to Jensen. "Ready?"

"They're just pictures," Jensen mutters and reaches for the thick envelope. He pulls out a stack of photos and settles back, his shoulder digging into Jared's. 

The first few are all of Jeff and Cara, in the church, exchanging rings and kissing, from the reception, dancing together and cutting the cake, and several with them looking at each other. Jared makes gagging noises every now and then, but there's a grin on his face as he does so and Jensen knows one of the photos is probably going to end up in a frame somewhere on display in Jared's house.

There are a few assorted photos of the family and friends and then there's a whole bunch of Jared and Jensen together, most of them taken when they weren't paying attention. 

"Look at us," Jared says, holding up a photo of them sitting next to each other at the table, bodies turned towards each other, laughing. 

Jensen's not sure what to say, whether to make fun of it or say something ridiculously sentimental that will most likely freak Jared out. So he says nothing, just grabs his beer and pretends nothing's wrong, like Jared isn't holding up a photo of them looking like a _couple_ , like what Jensen's been hoping for for years but never dared to voice.

The next time Jensen comes over, the photo of them is pinned to the corkboard in Jared's kitchen, among photos of friends and family and a handful of him and Jared. It's right smack in the middle, and next to it is a Polaroid of the two Js they carved into the tree in Jared's parent's backyard. It's not the dog-eared, crinkly one they used to have pinned up in their dorm.

+

"Don't make plans for the weekend," Jared says when Jensen answers his cell. He presses the phone between his ear and shoulder, freeing his hand, and carefully packs his camera into the bag. The light's too dark already for him to take any more photos anyway, and Jensen's feet ache from walking around all day.

"It's Friday," he mutters. "That's a little too late to tell me my weekend's booked."

"Oh. So you've plans already?" Jared actually sounds dejected, and Jensen rolls his eyes, his lips twitching into a small smile on their own accord.

"I don't. But I could have."

"You jerk. That's no way to treat your best friend."

Jensen sighs exaggeratedly and shoulders his bag, using his once again free hand to shift his cell phone around so it's not digging into his jaw any longer. "Whatever. So, you gonna tell me why exactly I'm not allowed to make plans for the weekend?"

"We're going camping. I bought all the stuff we need and got it all planned. You just need to pack a change of clothes, and be ready to leave tomorrow at five."

"Five in the afternoon?" Jensen asks hopefully. Jared's one of those people who doesn't mind getting up disgustingly early and occasionally, he'll make Jensen suffer with him. He remembers endless mornings during college where Jared dragged him out of bed at sunrise to go running with him and god, Jensen loves the guy, but sometimes he really wishes he had never met Jared.

"No?"

Damn. "Really? You want me to get up in the middle of the night to go camping with you, something we haven't done since we were teenagers by the way and will probably be a complete disaster?"

"We went camping after our graduation, Jen, it wasn't _that_ long ago. And I doubt it's something you can forget how to do."

"I can't talk you out of this, can I?" 

"Nope. And you'd break Harley and Sadie's hearts if you didn't come with us, Jensen. You can't do that to them," Jared says.

"Fine," he agrees. He can't say no to Jared anyway, and he would never admit it, but the thought of going camping for a couple of days, just the two of them, actually sounds nice. "But you owe me."

"Sure. We'll do whatever you want next weekend," Jared agrees easily.

Jensen sighs. "Do you ever think that maybe we should spend a weekend apart every once in a while? Or hey, just a day at least or a few hours," he suggest teasingly.

Jared laughs, but when he speaks, he sounds serious. "No. I don't," he says simply and hangs up.

~

"But I can't believe you wanna go out with him." Jared shuddered exaggeratedly and hitched his backpack higher. "He's smarmy, Jensen."

Jensen shrugged, pushing the gate to the Padaleckis' backyard open and letting Jared pass first. "Not like I have an endless amount of guys to choose from. We're going to high school in Texas, dickwad, remember? And I don't have the luxury of being able to choose from both teams either."

Jared snorted. "Your loss, you're really missing out. Katie's an amazing kisser, man." 

"It's not like you have a vast amount of experience to compare her to, loser."

Jared glanced over his shoulder, smirking and Jensen _knew_ that was one of the reasons Jared wouldn't actually have trouble getting dates. Jensen couldn't help it that when he looked at Jared he saw the dorky idiot he grew up with, the guy who was closer to him than his own brother, but objectively, he knew Jared was attractive. Tall, killer smile and floppy hair that, for some reason, people seemed to dig. Jared, though, seemed much more interested in spending his Friday nights hanging out with Jensen. 

"You know that's a lie, Jensen, you know that so well. And you, you can do better than Nick fucking Anderson." Jared halted, glancing around the backyard. "We should go out this weekend. Go downtown, see if we can sneak into Bonham, find you a nice gay boy."

"I think we'll be the boys there," Jensen countered, but the idea was actually appealing. Jared and he had snuck into the club a couple of time before in the last months, and it had been fun and Jensen had gotten a few numbers from guys, though he never called one of them even when Jared nagged him for days.

"Come on," Jared wheedled. "I won't let anyone molest you, if that's what you scared of. We'll dance, have a drink, hit on some guys."

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. But you think of something to tell our parents."

"We're crashing at David's," Jared replied without hesitation. "His parents are visiting his grandparents, so we promised him we'd hang out, play some videogames, watch a movie."

Jensen narrowed his eyes. "Did you plan this?" he accused and Jared's sheepish grin was all he needed to know. "Jared!"

Jared shrugged. "Anything to save you from Nick," he said without a trace of guilt, throwing his arm over Jensen's shoulders and steering him into the house. "Momma! We're back from school."

"Don't yell like that inside the house, Jared," his mother called from the direction of the kitchen and Jensen immediately sniffed the air, trying to figure out if she was cooking something. 

"Pasta?" Jared guessed, having mirrored Jensen's action. 

Jensen's stomach growled at the thought, and it did indeed smell like Bolognese sauce. "I love your mom."

Jared laughed and ruffled his hair as they entered the kitchen, finding Sharon at the stove, stirring sauce. "How was school?" she asked.

"Fine. Your classes?" Jared asked and let his arm drop from around Jensen's shoulder, leaning over to peer past his mother. 

"Mostly good. I somehow have to let Greta know that her son's going to fail if he doesn't stop skipping classes and not handing in his assignment. Some days I really hate being the teacher of my friends' kids. And there's nothing here for you to steal, Jared," she said without looking back and Jensen laughed, while Jared had the grace to look embarrassed. 

"I wasn't going to," he lied and shot a glare at Jensen.

Sharon chuckled. "Whatever, sweetheart. There're two letters on the counter over there for you." She pointed to a stack of mail. "From colleges."

Jared's eyes widened and Jensen felt his own stomach twist. "Which ones?" he asked as Jared grabbed the envelopes and riffled through them.

"Northwestern and Columbia."

Jensen's heart started thudding faster, and the nervous look Jared sent him told him Jared wasn't doing much better. He held up two envelopes and raised his eyebrows. Jensen nodded.

"We're going over to Jensen's, momma, see if he got some letters already as well."

Sharon looked back at them, then nodded. "Let me know when you read them. And you two will be here for dinner, right?"

Jared nodded and kissed him mother on the cheek. 

They were halfway down the driveway when Jensen stopped, putting his hand on Jared's arm. "Jared," he started and bit his lip.

"What? You okay?" 

"Yeah, it's just. If you get accepted somewhere and I don't --" He paused and looked up to Jared, who looked so excited and nervous at the same time. He saw understanding dawn on his face and his featured hardened.

"Then we'll wait for more letters and choose a college we both got into. The way we discussed it, Jensen."

"Well, that was all theoretical back then. This now? It's your future and mine. We should think about what's best for us," he tried, but Jared shut him up with a glare.

"What's best for us is being somewhere together," he argued.

Jensen sighed, but already felt himself calm down a little. Going to college with Jared _was_ what he wanted the most, and more than anything he hoped things would work out, but he didn't want to be the reason Jared ended up going somewhere that wasn't what was best for him. 

"We made a deal," Jared pressed.

Jensen shrugged a little. "Yeah -- but everybody thinks we should-"

"I don't care what everybody thinks. And you never did either," Jared interrupted him, looking upset and Jensen stepped closer.

"Jay," he pleaded.

"Where's this coming from?"

Jensen hesitated for a moment and then looked down to their feet. "Uh, Josh, Josh said we were too co-dependent."

"Josh's an idiot," Jared replied. "I'm not going anywhere without you. What's the point? I'd be miserable and I'd know you were somewhere moping, and we'd call each other all the time and instead of studying, we'd be planning the next time one of us could visit and then we'd end up failing everything."

"You're being a bit dramatic." Jensen grinned and Jared returned it.

"See? I need you to tell me when I'm being irrational. We can't go to different colleges."

"Guess we can't," Jensen agreed. 

Five minutes later, they were both grinning at each other, holding matching acceptance letters in their hands.

~

On the drive outside the city to whatever hiking trail Jared unearthed, Jensen rests his head against the window, one of Jared's hoodies serving as a makeshift pillow. He falls asleep to Jared humming along, off key, to the radio.

Jared shakes him awake what feels like only seconds later and Jensen grunts, rubbing a hand over his face. "God, I hate you."

Jared just laughs, slaps his thigh. "Come on, you know my dogs hate being cooped up in a car and we're wasting a perfect day sitting here."

"It's still night," Jensen grumbles, but climbs out of the car. He leans against the closed door, squinting at the morning sun, and listens to Jared letting the dogs out, talking to them in an excited voice. Despite himself, he's unable to keep a small smile from his face.

"All right." Jared claps his hands together as he rounds the car. "Let's get the backpacks."

"Awesome." Jensen gives him a fake smile, but follows Jared to the trunk, accepting the backpack he's handed. It's heavier than he thought it would be and he lets out a surprised grunt as he heaves it over his shoulder. "Jesus, Jared."

"Is it too much?" Jared gives him a genuinely worried look. "We can try cramming a little more stuff into mine, if you want?"

"I'm not a girl. I'll manage."

"Well, you're the one complaining," Jared teases and slams the trunk shut. "Harley, Sadie! Come here."

The dogs trot up to Jared, tails thumping happily. Jensen frowns a little. "No leashes?"

"There's nobody here anyway. Especially this early."

"I wonder why," Jensen mumbles under his breath and quickly sidesteps Jared's hand shooting out to hit him. "Watch it, asshole, or I'm going back home."

Jared cackles, throwing his arm around Jensen's shoulder, pulling him along the narrow trail leading away from the parking lot and into the woods. "You wanna walk all the way back to the city?"

"You wanna find a new best friend?" Jensen retorts and raises his eyebrows challengingly.

Jared gives him a wide smile, the arm around Jensen tightening for a split second. "Never."

~

Jared actually makes them walk for most of the day. When Jared suggested going hiking, Jensen stupidly thought they were going to walk through some woods, maybe up a little hill, for a couple of hours and then spend the rest of the day drinking beer and lying in the sun. Next time, he's going to ask questions before tagging along to whatever Jared has planned. Luckily, Jared also insists on regular breaks and the walk isn't too steep, so it's not unbearable, but Jensen is still dead tired when they reach their destination. He's sweaty, his muscles ache and the skin on his cheeks feels stretched from what Jensen is sure is sunburn. Getting the backpack off feels almost heavenly, his shoulder throbbing painfully.

"This is it," Jared announces, and looks back to Jensen, grinning widely. "What do you think?"

"I think I could sleep for a week," Jensen replies and then bumps his shoulder against Jared's reassuringly. "It's pretty though."

And it is. There's a small, dark blue lake stretched out in front of them, trees and patches of grass surrounding it. And judging from the fact that they haven't passed anybody in hours, it's probably all theirs for the night. 

"Wanna take a swim?" Jared asks, and pulls his shirt off without waiting for an answer. 

Jensen squints at the water and makes a face. 

"Come on, Jen! We used jump into every lake we could find back in Texas," Jared wheedles, bending down to untie his thick hiking boots. 

"We didn't know any better. There might be all kinds of things in that water."

Jared huffs at that, and okay, Jensen admits it sounded a little stupid. He stays silent, watching Jared strip out of the rest of his clothes.

"Don't pretend you outgrew the Texan teenager, Ackles," he teases, shucking his boxers in one smooth movement. Jensen feels himself flush a little, eyes still trained on Jared. He's seen him naked before; countless times when they were younger and occasionally still now, walking in on Jared changing when they crash at each others' place. 

Jared raises one eyebrow, nods his head at the lake before turning around and rushing to the water. He runs right into the lake, shrieking but not stopping before he's deep enough in to dive under water. Harley and Sadie, who were sniffling around happily until now, both start barking and run after him.

Jensen watches them for a moment, Jared laughing and fending off the dogs, splashing about. "Come on!" he yells one last time and Jensen sighs. 

"Fine," he mutters to himself and removes his clothes. 

The water's ice cold, making his skin tingle and burn, and Jensen almost turns back around. Jared's freaking crazy and he's probably gonna get both of them sick.

"Get in. You'll warm up," Jared says, holding out his hand towards him and if Jensen didn't know any better, he'd swear Jared's gaze flits over his body. 

"It's _freezing_ ," Jensen curses, but does as he's told, wading into the water until he's in waist deep.

"It's just the first shock. Stop whining," Jared shoots back with a smile.

Jensen ducks his head under water once, getting his hair wet, and then swims to Jared. When he's close enough, he quickly takes in a mouthful of water and spits it right into Jared's face.

"Jensen!" Jared shrieks and splashes back. "That's disgusting," he mutters and dives right at Jensen. They wrestle in the water for a few moments, both trying unsuccessfully to get the upper hand. Harley and Sadie swim around them, barking and yapping. Finally, Jared manages to get a tight grip on both of Jensen's wrists and holds him immobile.

"Jared, don't," Jensen rushes out, feeling a split second of panic. Jared's hands immediately loosen their grasp.

"I'm not gonna dunk your head under the water. I know, Jen," he says, his voice gentle and reassuring. Jensen relaxes immediately, the tight feeling in his chest leaving just as quickly as it came. 

It's a stupid, irrational fear, but Jensen can't help it. Josh held him under water once when they were younger, and Jensen panicked, swallowing water and nearly choking on it. 

They tread water quietly for a while, Jared's hands still on him. "Better?" Jared asks after a while, one of his thumbs rubbing circles over Jensen's wrist.

Jensen nods. "We should get back and get warm," he says, and almost regrets it when Jared nods in agreement.

They swim back to the shore together, Harley and Sadie following. 

"You didn't happen to pack towels, did you?" Jensen asks once he's out of the water. The air is still pretty warm, but he feels chilled from the water anyway and rubs his hands over his arms. Next to him, Harley shakes himself, sending droplets of water everywhere, before lying down on a patch of grass in the sun right next to Sadie.

"The sun'll dry us. Or you can towel off with a shirt." Jared gives him a critical once-over. "You that cold?"

"A little. It's not that bad though," Jensen promises and feels a little ridiculous. He's standing in front of his best friend butt naked, dripping water and shaking.

"Nah, come on, I packed an extra shirt anyway. We can use that to dry off a little." Jared kneels down in front of his backpack and rummages around, pulling out some stuff before throwing a shirt at Jensen.

"Thanks, man," Jensen mutters. He dries off and then gets dressed quickly, already feeling warmer by the time he's wearing jeans and a t-shirt again. "What's next? Tent?"

"Sure," Jared says as he pulls a shirt and stretches his arms. "Wanna set it up right here?"

Jensen shrugs, looking around them. "Why not? Seems as good a place as any. Hey, think we can still do it as quickly as we did when we were kids?"

Jared smirks, raising his eyebrows. "You bet your ass, Ackles. Come on, we got a record to keep."

They're not done anywhere near as quickly as they used to be. It doesn't help that Jared insists they can do it without the instructions until they're hopelessly confused by the endless rods and they resign. Jensen mutters a few insults under his breath, unfolding the piece of paper while Jared laughs.

"Oh, come on. We would have forever wondered if we could have done it without the instructions if we hadn't tried."

Jensen snorts, studying the little pictures with a frown. "And now we know for sure that we suck. Awesome."

Jared bumps his shoulder against Jensen's. "Okay, grumpy. Give me that." He takes the paper out of Jensen's hands. "Okay, get that rod over there first."

Jensen rolls his eyes. "I just read the thing, Jay, you don't need to boss me around," he complains, but does as Jared told him anyway.

After that, setting the tent up is easy and Jared throws his hands up in the air, crowing proudly when they're done.

"Victory!" he exclaims. 

"God, you're such a dork sometimes," Jensen groans and sidesteps Jared's noogie with a laugh. 

He sits down, stretching his legs out, as Jared crawls into the tent to spread out the camping mats and sleeping bags, and looks at the still water while listening to the rustling from inside the tent.

"Know what would be nice right now?" he asks, raising his voice so Jared could hear him. "A cold beer."

"Look inside my backpack. It's not gonna be cold, but maybe we can stick it in the lake water for a while." Jared sticks his head outside and grins. "And I'm hungry. I could eat a whole freaking cow."

Jensen's stomach rumbles at the thought of food and a small sound escapes him. "Man, I'd give anything for a steak right now."

"We can have steak when we get back tomorrow. For now, there's a Tupperware container in your backpack with that macaroni and chicken stuff you always liked. We just need to heat it up over a fire."

Jensen gapes at Jared, who's crawling out of the tent, looking awkward with his mile long limbs. "Your mom's macaroni and chicken?"

"Her recipe. I made it last night. It was always your favorite camping food. You used to beg my mom to make it before ever trip, remember?"

"Man, yeah." Jensen rubs his stomach and grins, getting up. He roots through his backpack, coming up with a container filled completely with food. He pops it open, sniffing at the content and damn, it does smell just like Sherri's. His stomach rumbles loudly.

Jared smiles at him, soft and fond. "Does it pass?"

"Hell yeah," Jensen says. "I'm setting up the fire. You have a pot or something to heat this up in?"

"I'll get it. You start looking for twigs and stuff and I'll clear a place for the fire," Jared suggests and Jensen nods. They work quietly, and it's so much like back in Texas, back when they were teenagers, that Jensen can't keep the happy grin off his face. 

Twenty minutes later, they sit with paper plates on their laps and beers sitting on the ground next to them. The fire is crackling in front of them and the sun is beginning to set, basking everything in a golden hue. 

"God, this is good," Jensen says around a fork of food, grinning widely at Jared. 

Jared hums around his own fork, cleaning off the last of his food before setting the plate down. He lies back, body sprawled on the grass and his legs dangerously close to the fire. Jensen looks down at him.

Jared catches his eyes, biting his lower lip and looking sort of nervous despite the smile on his face.

"What?" Jensen asks, swiping his hand over his mouth just in case he has food smeared somewhere, but the look on Jared's face doesn't waver. "Jay?"

"I lied to you," Jared says.

"What?"

"I didn't just ask you to come here with me because I wanted to go camping. I actually wanted to tell you something and I kinda wanted the mood to be right."

"The mood," Jensen echoes stupidly.

Jared nods empathetically, sitting back up and running a hand through his messy hair. "Yeah, you know, cause we always went camping when we were younger and had such a good time. We always had so much fun," Jared says and gives him one of his pleading, wide eyed looks.

"I'm not sure I'm following you."

"Uh, yeah, I'm not explaining it well, I guess. It made sense in my head, I swear," Jared says with a nervous laugh. "I just wanted us to be alone and somewhere where we'd be comfortable and happy for this."

"And this is what?" Jensen asks, peering at Jared. For what feels like the first time ever, he feels like he can't read Jared at all, has no idea what Jared is talking about.

"Um," Jared mumbles and then leans forward, too quickly for Jensen to react, and suddenly his hand is cupping Jensen's face and their lips are pressed together. Jensen's frozen for a moment, Jared's lips warm and insisting, pressed against his own, and then Jensen reaches out, curling his hand around Jared's neck, and kisses him back.

"Jared," Jensen whispers as he pulls away, his lips hovering millimeters from Jared's, and he can't keep the smile off his face.

"This is okay, right?" Jared asks tentatively, moving his thumb in small circles over Jensen's cheek.

"More than okay."

Jared grins and pulls him back into another kiss. Jensen opens his mouth under Jared's, their tongues sliding together, hot and wet, and Jensen's heart is beating so hard he's sure Jared must be able to feel it. 

They kiss for the longest time, until Jensen's lips feel bruised and raw and they're both breathing hard, Jared sprawled half on top of Jensen. "Jensen," Jared says, voice husky. "God, I wanna fuck you."

It's like a switch being flipped and the warm, content feeling inside Jensen's replaced by pure, hot want. He makes a noise somewhere between moan and whimper and nods frantically. "God, yes," he agrees, and Jared scrambles up.

"I've got lube and condoms in my backpack."

"Pretty presumptuous," Jensen teases, pulling his shirt off eagerly all the same and struggling out of his jeans. He's careful not the throw his clothes anywhere near the fire that's already starting to die down. The embers are glowing a deep orange, giving off heat and Jensen wants to laugh. He's about to have sex with his best friend for the first time outside at a remote, idyllic lake and god, it's ridiculously sappy and he just hopes it'll be good or they're never living this down.

"Just hopeful," Jared counters in a serious and quiet voice, and Jensen grins widely, feeling happiness bubble up inside of him. 

Jared drops lube and condom next to Jensen's head and shucks off his own clothes before joining Jensen on the ground again. "You okay with this?" Jared asks, pressing a trail of kisses down Jensen's throat.

"Are you seriously going all gentleman on me here? Cause man, I might be the one about to get fucked, but you don't need to be all careful and worried with me."

Jared snorts, lifting his head back up and kissing Jensen. "Dully noted," he whispers and rolls on top of Jensen, falling between his legs and fuck, it feels good. Jared's all smooth skin and hard muscles, their bodies rocking together as they kiss. Their cocks are trapped between their stomachs, and Jensen can feel sticky precome against his stomach and he arches up into Jared, wanting more.

Jared makes a low, keening noise and pulls away, sitting back on his haunches and picking up the lube. Jensen's not sure why, maybe because the noise Jared made sounds just like Sadie when she's begging for food, but he suddenly remembers the dogs. He cranes his head around and spies the outlines of their bodies in the dim light, both of them obviously knocked out. He breathes a sigh of relief, knowing Harley and Sadie can sleep through anything. He loves them to death, probably almost as much Jared does, but they're certainly not the most reliable guard dogs.

Jared brushes his hand against Jensen's thigh and the touch makes Jensen snap back around, focusing his attention on Jared, who's smiling down at him fondly.

"They're asleep," Jared mumbles and presses Jensen's legs apart with one hand.

Jensen lifts his hips when Jared slides slippery fingers past his balls, his legs falling open as the first finger presses into him. 

Jared leans over him, kissing him, deep and dirty, while opening him up. He thrusts in and out of Jensen, fast and steady, fingers curling and twisting and apparently Jared paid close attention whenever they talked about sex, because he seems to know exactly how Jensen likes it. His fingers keep finding Jensen's prostate and driving him so close to the edge, it's making Jensen's blood pound faster and his breath come out in short, breathy moans. Jensen rocks down on Jared's fingers, digging his fingers into Jared's shoulders.

"God, Jensen," Jared mumbles when he pulls away, looking down at Jensen with dilated pupils, his cheeks flushed. "God."

Jensen lets out a noise somewhere between a chuckle and a sob, Jared's fingers still pressing and thrusting and he can't remember the last time anything felt this good. 

"I could make you come just like this," Jared whispers, flicking his tongue over the shell of Jensen's ear. "Could make you fall apart."

Jensen almost wants to tell him to do it, to give him just a little more, a little harder, and make him come. But he's waited for this for years and he's not sure he can wait any longer. "Or," he replies, panting. "You could fuck me and make this fun for both of us."

Jared buries his face in Jensen's neck, nuzzling the sweaty skin there, and Jensen feels him press wet sloppy kisses to his skin. "Yeah. Yeah, I could do that," Jared agrees.

Jensen reaches for a condom blindly, grasping it with sweaty fingers and fumbles to tear it open as Jared extracts his fingers carefully. It takes a few attempts until the foil wrapper rips under his fingers and Jared's laughing, the sound muffled a little as he obviously tries to hold it back.

"Shut up, dick," Jensen mutters, slapping Jared's thigh with his free hand before rolling the condom carefully over Jared's cock.

Jared pushes into him slowly, carefully, and then fucks him hard and fast. Its years of pent up tension and want, and Jensen feels like he might burst from all of it. He tangles one hand in Jared's sweat soaked hair, digging his other hand into Jared's shoulder hard enough for his nails to leave scratches, just like he knows the shape of Jared's fingers will be bruised onto his hips for days. 

Jensen comes first and Jared fucks him through it, his thrusts slowing down and drawing it out, and Jensen bites his lip hard enough to break skin. 

He babbles Jared's name, clinging to him and feeling Jared's muscles trembling under his hands. "Come on. Come on, Jay," he whispers and Jared thrusts into him once, twice more and stills, pulsing inside Jensen as he comes.

He collapses on top of Jensen, their limbs tangled and their skin glued together with sweat and come. The sudden silence seems almost eerie and their breathing too harsh and loud. It takes a moment for Jensen to adjust to it until he starts hearing the chirping of crickets, the rustling of leaves and the soft, melodic sound of water splashing against the lakeside. It's completely dark by now and Jared's a heavy, hot weight on top of him. 

"Why didn't this happen years ago?" Jared asks, and Jensen can hear the smile in his voice.

Jensen grins, too, happy and mellow. "No idea," he says and pulls Jared in for a soft kiss, Jared's hand cupping his face.

Jared runs his thumb over Jensen's cheek, tracing odd patterns that Jensen can't make out onto his skin. The ground underneath Jensen is hard and uncomfortable, grass sticking to his back and he doesn't even want to know what all the things poking into him and making his skin itch are, but he's pretty sure things couldn't be more perfect than they are right now anyway. 

"We're really doing this, huh?" Jared asks into the silence.

Jensen covers Jared's hand with his own, stilling his movements and turning into the touch. "Hell yeah, we are," he says with a grin and Jared laughs before covering Jensen's lips with his own again.

~

They go home for Christmas and while their mom's are in the kitchen, cooking up enough food for a small country, Jared twines his hand with Jensen and leads him into the backyard.

"Jay, we can't just sneak off while our moms are cooking. Come on, we should help them," Jensen complains, but lets Jared pull him along.

Jared gives him a small smile. "It won't take long, I promise."

He squeezes Jensen's hand once and Jensen sighs, but doesn't put up any further protest. Talking Jared out of something is nearly impossible anyway and he knows their mothers will pretty much forgive them anything right now. They haven't seen them since Jeff's wedding, not since before they got together, and apparently everything they do now is considered cute. They keep watching them with smiles on their faces, and embarrassingly enough, Jensen's old bed has been replaced by a bigger one. Jared laughed at that for a good couple of minutes before pulling Jensen onto it, claiming they needed to test it out. And okay, it was worth the embarrassment.

Jared leads him to the back of the yard, stopping in front of the large tree. _Their_ tree. He turns to Jensen, grinning.

"What?" Jensen asks, but smiles back.

Jared steps closer and leans down for a kiss, slow and dry. When he pulls away, he reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a pocketknife. "Thought we should change it," he mumbles and ducks his head a little, flushing. 

"Change it?" Jensen repeats, not quite sure what Jared is planning yet.

"It's sappy, I know, but --" Jared shrugs. He gives Jensen another, smaller, smile and turns to the tree. Jensen watches him flip open the knife and with a steady hand he carefully starts carving. It takes a while until Jensen realizes he's carving a heart into the bark around the letters. It's a little crooked, and completely perfect.

"Did you practice?" Jensen asks, surprised. 

Jared looks over his shoulder, grinning. "Had to get it right on the first try, didn't I?" 

"Yeah," Jensen agrees in a low voice, stepping closer and wrapping his arms around Jared's waist. He rests his cheek against Jared's shoulder. "We should take a picture. For your bulletin board."

Jared tilts his head back, his hair brushing against Jensen's face and presses a kiss to Jensen's eyebrow. "Digicam's in my left pocket," he replies. "You're the photographer. You do it."

Jensen stays where he is, pressed against Jared, for another minute before retrieving the camera. 

He takes one perfect shot.


End file.
